Stay With Me
by maybeweare
Summary: Season 2 finale. There might be no way to save Storybrooke without Regina sacrificing herself, but Emma isn't about to let her die alone. SwanQueen, slightly less depressing than it sounds.


Emma turned around to see the magic flow from Regina's trembling hands to the diamond, but she quickly raised her eyes back to the brunette's face, catching the tears streaming down her face and the pain, both emotional and physical, in her eyes. She only hesitated for a moment before walking back towards Regina, skirting around the diamond so that she could stand beside her. "I'm not going to leave you," she said, wanting to reach out and touch the other woman but not sure it was safe.

"Emma," Regina pleaded, and the blonde was startled to hear her first name from the woman's lips. "There's no other option. Please go."

"Maybe you do have to die," Emma conceded. "But I'm not letting you die alone."

"Henry needs you." More words Emma wasn't expecting.

"He needs you, too. But he's with my parents, and they'll take better care of him than I ever could." Emma finally let herself reach out, cupping Regina's face and wiping her tears. Regina flinched but then relaxed into the touch. "I'm going to take care of you for as long as I can."

Regina closed her eyes and nodded. She'd been exhausted long before they ever got to the mine, and she wasn't about to waste any of the energy she had left on fighting when she needed it, all of it, to give Henry a chance. When she looked again, Emma was studying the side of her face, sweeping a finger lightly over the red blister left by one of the electrodes.

"I'm sorry," Emma whispered, although Regina wasn't sure what she meant. Neither was Emma, really. Sorry that she hadn't been able to save Regina faster, sorry that she was disobeying orders, sorry for all of the months of fighting and misunderstandings.

"Me, too." Regina allowed herself to smile sadly.

"I can't believe you're not fighting me on this." Emma withdrew her hand, and Regina took a deep breath to steady herself. The loss of touch made the magic feel so much more draining. "You always loved sparring with me."

Regina rolled her shoulders back, hoping to control the shaking of her arms. "I'm tired, Emma," she admitted, tears slipping out once again. "I'm so tired."

Emma had seen Regina cry before. She'd seen her broken. But she'd never seen her weak. She stepped behind the brunette, wrapping her arms tentatively around her waist and feeling Regina stiffen. "Relax," she whispered against Regina's ear. "Let me help."

Regina stayed in place a minute before allowing herself to sag back against the blonde, trusting her weight to the arms around her and just concentrating on her task. She stared intently at the diamond, blinking away her tears. There was no time for emotion. She had to keep working, to give the town above a chance. She felt Emma's breath on her ear but didn't catch the words. "What?"

Emma squeezed her a little tighter around the middle. It wasn't Regina's Madame Mayor "what?" and she realized that the brunette simply hadn't heard her. "I said I love you," she repeated, louder this time. "That's why I'm staying."

"Oh." Regina was silent for a moment, only the buzz of magic filling the air. Pretense was just another thing she didn't have energy for, so she turned slightly in Emma's arms, craning her neck to see the blonde. "I love you, too. That's why you have to go."

"It's why I _can't_."

Regina opened her mouth to respond but her knees buckled under her, Emma now the only thing that was keeping her up. The blonde lowered them slowly to the ground, sitting Regina between her legs so the brunette could stay upright against her. The magic flowing from Regina's fingers sputtered, and Emma raised a hand to stroke the side of Regina's face and gently turn her to see her.

"Stay with me," Emma said, practically begging. Regina's eyes were going unfocused, her breathing labored. The blonde knew she shouldn't do anything to distract Regina when she was so close to finished, that she should give her parents every possible second to get Henry away, but she couldn't resist leaning down and kissing Regina just once before they died.

Regina blinked several times, eyes focusing again and then closing as she lost herself to the kiss. Rather than giving out completely, her magic suddenly surged through her more intensely than she'd ever felt. Her arms fell limply to her sides, the connection between them and the diamond gone, and she pulled away from Emma abruptly to look in the direction of the trigger.

It was no longer glowing, and both women feared the worst until it clattered to the ground uselessly. They waited in silence, but nothing changed.

"Are we dead?" Emma finally asked.

"I think we stopped it." Regina reached for the diamond, feeling no magic radiating from it anymore. It was just a stone, nothing more.

"We?" Emma took the diamond from her, staring at it. "I didn't do anything. It was all you."

"True love's kiss," Regina replied, the first smile in days dawning on her face. "We couldn't have stopped it any other way." She turned to face Emma fully, putting her arms around the blonde and meeting her lips in another kiss.

"I just wish I'd gotten the nerve to kiss you sooner, then." Emma got up, pulling Regina with her, but the brunette was still unsteady on her feet. "I got you," she said with a smile, picking Regina up.

Regina dropped her head to Emma's shoulder. "Off to find Henry?" she asked as the blonde headed back towards the entrance of the mines.

"Off to get you into bed."

"Emma!" The blonde chuckled; that sounded more like the Regina she knew. "Now is hardly the time."

"For sleeping purposes!" Emma replied quickly. "And anyway, I found Henry."

Regina lifted her head to see their son rushing towards them from the sunlit entrance to the mines, Emma's parents a step behind him.

"Mom! Emma! You stopped it!"

Regina returned Henry's bright smile before letting her head sink back onto Emma's shoulder.


End file.
